Committee for artists’ welfare prepares initial draft

Islamabad

Prime Minister’s Special Committee for the welfare of artists has prepared its initial draft based on the recommendations to create an effective mechanism for well-being of the artists at the federal and provincial level.

The approval of the draft was a given in the third meeting of the committee headed by Irfan Siddiqui, adviser to the Prime Minister on  National History and Literary Heritage (NH&LH), held here Friday.

The meeting decided to circulate the initial draft among all the members of the committee for their feedback till April 5 to finalise the report on the subject that would be presented to the Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif soon.

Speaking on the occasion, Advisor to the Prime Minister, Irfan Siddiqui said this draft is being prepared in consultation with the members of the artists’ community and hoped that the committee will come up with an effective, practicable and transparent system for the well-being of the artists.

 “We are striving to have a robust system that can assess and evaluate cases of financial and medical assistance for the artists without any delay,” he said.

He said the committee is eagerly looking into creating more employment opportunities for the artists to earn through their artistic endeavours instead of making them dependent on financial assistance for a long period. 

He also appreciated the efforts of the members of the committee, Secretary NH&LH Engineer Aamir Hasan, Joint Secretary, Syed Junaid Akhlaq and other officials from the ministries who assisted the committee to accomplish this noble task.

During the meeting, Joint Secretary, NHLH division, Syed Junaid Akhlaq briefed the committee about the recommendations prepared in consultation with all the concerned quarters.

The committee members included PTV chairman, prominent film and drama actresses Zeba Muhammad Ali and Laila Zubairi, prominent artist Suhail Ahmad Azizi,  Pakistan National  Council of the Arts Director General Jamal Shah, film producers Syed Noor and Ejaz Ahmad Gul and violin player Ustad Raees.